I made a mistake. I wanted to see what the American press had to say about the events of the past week, and I looked at CNN. "What were you thinking?!" I can hear you asking. I don't know. It's been raining here and maybe the weather funkified my common sense. Regardless, once the article ended and I awoke from my rage induced blackout, I guess I was hungry for more pain. So off to the New York Times I went. Whoops. Eventually I convinced the kids sitting around me in the computer lab that they didn't need to worry about the foam coming out of my mouth, that I was fine but that a kleenex would be greatly appreciated.
If you were also reading CNN and the NYT, then you know that 59 year Mary Jane Gardner, a British woman, was killed by a bomb that went off at the Jerusalem bus station on Wednesday and left 30 others injured. And that Obama immediately called up Netanyahu to express his condolences and that he "reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to Israel's security." The details of the bombing are described in great detail. There is also some talk of Israel responding to an increase in violence by Hamas out of Gaza and of some "stray mortar fire" killing four civilians. And that the bomb comes as one of the first moments of violence in a relative run of peace.
Here's more, largely from Ma'an, a Palestinian run news agency operating out of the West Bank, and only glazed over by the aforementioned outlets. On Tuesday, IDF airstrikes into Gaza, in response to an increase of rockets coming out of Gaza, killed eight people. One of the morning attacks (the third of the morning of attacks) struck outside of a home in the north, where a family was playing soccer, killing Muhammad Jihad Al-Hilu (11), Yasser Ahed Al-Hilu (16), Muhammad Saber Harara (20) and Yasser Hamer Al-Hilu (50). Dozens have been injured in further airstrikes both before and after Tuesday. There are reports that Tzipi Livni has called for another Operation Cast Lead.
Also out of Israel over the past few days is the Nakba Bill. This allows Israel to deny funding to any organiztion that questions its existence as a Jewish state. The bill disallows any activity "which would entail undermining the foundations of the state and contradict its values." This, of course, directly targets Arab organizations within Israel. Institutions that take part in activities that question Israel's status as a Jewish state, such as commemorating 1948 as the Nakba (the Catastrophe) rather than Independence, are at risk for having their funding revoked.
This is what might be called an 'usbu3 al-busl. An onion week.
I've all but given up on mainstream news outlets, alas. Even the Times, which is probably the most reliable mainstream American source, drives me batty on these issues sometimes. The BBC is often better, but not always.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a week of tragedies all around. All I could manage to write about it, ultimately, was a post sharing other people's poems about Israel/Palestine, because I can't seem to find words of my own which work, even from all of these miles away.
The reasons for the differences in the media coverage between the different incidents you mentioned are not hard to discern. The Palestinians have always been proud of the fact that their "armed resistance" has consisted primarily in terrorist attacks aimed at Israel's civilian population, including in this the indiscriminate rocket fire HAMAS directs into Israeli population centers. I am sure you are aware of this, living where you do...seeing posters honoring suicide bombers, naming streets and public squares after them, praise for them in both the official HAMAS and Palestinian Authority media, etc. The civilians killed as a result of Israeli artillery fire were not specifically targetted as such, but were, tragicall, the vicitms of "collateral damage". The West, even that part which is pro-Palestnians takes a dim view of the strategy of "Palestinian armed resistance", especially since 9/11, and does not "collateral damage" victims in the same light.
ReplyDeleteBut let's say there IS a moral equivalence between the two. At this very moment, far more victims of "collateral damage" are being created by the American and NATO operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan (and possibly now, Libya) and these receive little media coverage, so the Palestinian victims are just a minor addition to this.
Finally, there is the ongoing fratricidal slaughter going on between Arabs/Muslims...Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, now Syria and Yemen...add this to what was in Lebanon, Algeria, Turkey (against the Kurds). Don't forget that the Palestinians themselves have contributed to this.
So we see that Arab-Israeli conflict actually pales in comparison to the turmoilt that is tearing the Arab/Muslim world apart. This will afffect how the media covers what is going on here.
I like your new layout girl!
ReplyDelete